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Ciro Rodriguez stood on a corner smack in the middle of the South Side on Wednesday afternoon, three new congressional districts surrounding him.

“This did not have to happen,” the former U.S. representative said, vowing to fight the newly drawn interim redistricting maps all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

The latest maps to come out of the seemingly endless redistricting saga were released Tuesday by a panel of three federal judges in San Antonio. They were ordered by the Supreme Court to redraw maps closer to those initially passed by the state Legislature last year.

Rodriguez stood with Choco Meza, chairwoman for the Bexar County Democratic Party, and Luis Vera, general counsel for LULAC, next to a map of the Harlandale school district, which now is carved into three districts — the 20th, the 23rd and the 35th, which stretches all the way to Austin.

“The community is being divided,” Rodriguez said, “and the proof is right here.”

LULAC joined the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, NAACP, and others in a brief submitted Wednesday asking for a quick decision from the Washington court charged with determining if the state's maps disenfranchise minority voters.

They claim the new maps contain many of the same Voting Rights Act violations found in the original state maps.

If that court finds the state maps do, in fact, hurt minority voters, said Vera, that decision would compel the San Antonio court to alter the maps yet again.

“If they don't, we will go to the Supreme Court,” and ask for a stay, he said.

But the San Antonio judges do not have to change the maps.

Depending on when the D.C. court rules, they could choose to keep the interim maps in place so a primary election can go forward, said Michael Li, an elections lawyer who has extensively covered the intertwining court cases at txredistricting.org.

He said final maps must be in place by March 31 for a late June primary, which would be the latest possible date without risking runoffs in late September, after the deadline for mailing out military ballots.

As of now, the primary tentatively is set for May 29.

Rodriguez, who declined to discuss his political future Wednesday, has said in the past he would run wherever his district ultimately was drawn. His home is in the newly drawn 23rd, which would pit him in a primary run against state Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine.

Vera warned those assembled at the corner of Pleasanton Road and Formosa Boulevard that the fight would not be over any time soon.